Busy Week In Paris!

Bonjour bonjour!  So basically we have class every single day from 8:30 am until 5pm so I really am just EXHAUSTED!  Don't get me wrong, I am so incredibly happy and lucky to be here, but each day takes so much out of me that all I want to do is come home and sleep.  But I am in Paris so I have to drink some coffee and fight through it!  I have been studying for my first Sorbonne test too, and I had to write my first required blog for my history of art class (see blog below).  Therefore, I am a little behind so this blog post will cover this whole past week!

 

Our first site visit this week was to the Musee D'Orsay.  And I must say, this is by far my favorite museum!  My favorite works of art are housed here, including the 3 pictured in the pic collage below.  My favorite painting is "The Floor Scrapers" by Caillebotte, then I basically love any of Degas' ballerina paintings, and the third painting I love is the classic very Parisian "Bal du Moulin de la Galette", by Renoir.  We get to visit the Musee D'Orsay again next week to see more!  Also, we were able to see Courbet's "The Origin of the World"... if you know what that is then you know my general reaction. 

Also, for lunch this week I was able to cross yet another thing off of my "Paris Bucket List"... eating escargot, which if you somehow can't tell is snails.  And it was actually not that bad!  They soak them in pesto, garlic, and butter.  I will probably never order them again... but hey when in Paris! 

Our next site visit was to L'Arc de Triomphe!  We went all the way to the top in this Paris summer heat.  There were approx. one million stairs but the view was worth it!  This part of the site visit was purely touristic. 

Then as part of that site visit, we took the metro as a class over to Les Invalides which is where Napoleon is buried.  ...But buried might be the wrong word because the whole place is basically centered around his casket!  It was originally built as a place to house and also hide injured war veterans, hoping to boost morale about the war.  War vets still live there today, and one of the most bizarre things that I saw was a group of what I'm assuming to be injured veterans laying on their stomachs on hospital gurneys, outside of Les Invalides smoking cigarettes.  Also, there is a military museum attached to Les Invalides.  The famous painting of Napoleon by Inges resides here, as well as various military artifacts (such as a diamond encrusted sword) and Napoleon's actual horse that has been taxidermied... which was really creepy. 

 The next day's site visit was to L'Opera Garnier!  Which is the building in which the Paris Ballet performs.  We were able to walk around and have a tour by our professor and gsi.  Of course the whole time I spent with my friends singing various songs from "The Phantom of The Opera". 

 

Then on Friday we didn't have a site visit so I decided to spend the day exploring my favorite area of Paris, Montmartre!  I went to a bunch of little vintage shops, and I found one that used to be a perfume shop.  The man who owned the shop was selling vintage designer perfume bottles, and told me about this one bottle from Yves Saint Laurent that was so old, it still just said "Paris" on the front.  He told me this was because after this bottle was made, YSL was required to put their name or logo with the word Paris.  I thought it was a great find!

Also, Montmartre is at the top of a very large hill, right by the Sacre Coeur.  After ascending many flights of stairs, you are in the center of Montmartre, full of cute little shops and places to eat.  I went around and explored each one, and also found the "Lapin Agile", which is another famous cabaret!  Then, my friend and I ate at an outdoor restaurant and sat on the steps of Sacre Coeur to watch the sunset. 

And finally, today was spent at Fontainebleau!  We took a couch bus the hour and a half it took to get to the chateau, and spent the morning exploring the inside.  There was a little string orchestra concert going on which really added to the overall ambiance.  We then ate a very peaceful lunch in the gardens!  I think I may have fallen asleep for a little bit in the hot sun... (It was soooo hot today!)  Then we took a mini tour of the Barbizon forest which ended up being more like a hike through the woods.  Apparently many famous painters used the Barbizon forest for inspiration for their paintings.  After our hike we went to the center of the little village and bought baguettes and cold water bottles for the coach ride home. 

Now I am off to get ready for whatever tonight brings!  I promise to update more frequently because once you skip a day things just really start to add up.  Bon soir!